French firm could create 4,000 jobs under Make in India: Report

France-based DCNS is likely to source key components for its global ocean thermal projects from India. If the plan materialises, over 4,000 jobs will be created under the Make in India initiative.

DCNS, which claims to be the European leader in naval defence and an innovative player in energy, attended the International Fleet Review (IFR) and Make in India week. The two events, which were held in February 2016, witnessed DCNS' willingness to contribute to India's Make in India initiative.

The company is currently completing work on the Scorpene submarine contract and is "focusing" on India for its future Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) projects, The Economic Times reports.

"Building up our defence ecosystem, a future OTEC project could have local content of more than 60 percent of order valuesâ€”key systems like platform, heat exchangers and pumps being manufactured by Indian MSMEs. This will possibly create as many as 4,000 jobs locally over a span of 4-5 years under Make in India," the daily quoted Bernard Buisson, Managing Director, DCNS India, as saying.

On the other hand, the Indian Navy is planning to set up an OTEC plant in the Andaman Islands off Port Blair.

"A pilot project for the plant which generates clean energy to take off the dependence on diesel generators currently being used is under progress," Navy Chief RK Dhowan was quoted as saying by the publication.

The Indian Naval project, along with other global projects to be carried out by DCNS, could put Indian companies on the global supply chain. DCNS is reportedly in talks with companies such as Kirloskar and Godrej to manufacture critical parts of the project in India.

These parts could be made in India through technology transfer or via a joint design project, ET added.